Arrest warrant expected for brother of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams

Liam Adams is accused of sexually abusing his daughter from 1977 to 1985.

The Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said that it may take weeks before a European arrest warrant is issued for the arrest of suspected pedophile Liam Adams.

Liam Adams, a brother of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, is currently at large in Northern Ireland. The PSNI have applied for a European arrest warrant so they can extradite him to face charges in Northern Ireland.

The suspected pedophile handed himself into a police station in County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday. Adams is alleged to have sexually abused his daughter in the late 1970's for a period of over eight years.

The warrant is expected to be issued in the Dublin High Court in January.

The PSNI have refused to comment on whether or not police officially allowed Adams to work in Youth Centers in the 1990's.

The allegations were made public in a TV program last Friday. Gerry Adams condemned the actions of his brother in the program and appealed to him to hand himself in. It also emerged that the father of Gerry Adams had abused some of his own children.

The victim of the abuse Aine Kerr, said that she was "ostracized" by members of the Adams family when she asked her father to be held accountable for his actions. Kerr also criticized the lack of action from Gerry Adams at the time of the allegations.

The PSNI have said that Adams and Sinn Fein asked victims of sexual abuse not to lodge complaints with the RUC in the 1990's. One report has stated that when the Adams case came to the attention of the RUC they asked Aine to become an informer.

A spokesperson for Gerry Adams stated that he fully supported Aine at the time of the allegations and confronted his brother with the allegations and had him removed from Sinn Fein.